Skepticism from a Godless Conservative

Setting Anger Aside

I really think it’s time for all of us, as skeptics and even atheists, to put aside our anger.

What good does it do to be constantly disturbed? I think that most of my regular readers will understand what I’m saying.

Do I become angry? Do I sometimes write angrily? Sure. I’m trying to move past that. Mostly what I see now, instead of becoming angry, I just call it what it is: Stupid.

I think that’s becoming my favorite term. But how do you fix stupid? Yes, we can angrily march in the streets (Can you really envision any of us doing that?) or we can write blogs defaming those people and policies we dislike.

Does any of this do any good? Is what I’m writing here going to end up in the New
York Times or the Washington Post? Of course not.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t call out those people, even those within the “community” that cause harm by their words.

What ‘i’d prefer to see is that we call out those people without the implication of any hate.

Sometimes, using “enemy“ tactics to defeat them succeeds. Mostly, it doesn’t. Trust me that after many years, I know this to be true.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t use derision, just that you should leave whatever anger you have at home. How about deriding with humor? You’ll still have made your point and most likely, better your opponent.

2 thoughts on “Setting Anger Aside”

If we are confronted with something that actually impacts us or those we care about, I think getting angry is an appropriate and sometimes helpful reaction. It is difficult to imagine that any church-state activism would take place without someone having been angered by a violation.

For those of us who want the atheist/skeptic/secular community to be better, it makes sense that we are going to get mad when we see someone undermining it. We’re invested in it, and we don’t like it when someone messes with it. The question then becomes what to do about it. I’d say that anger can be helpful but only if it can be channeled into something productive. If only that was easier than it often is.